Chrissy
Christine "Chrissy" Jenkins is the mother of Lol and Kelly and the wife of Mick. Characterisation In This Is England '86, Chrissy could easily be seen as the stereotypical battered wife: she is shown to be rather cold and unloving towards Lol while showing the utmost respect to her violent and abusive husband, Mick, and when Lol accuses Mick of his past actions, Chrissy puts the blame on both herself and Lol for having caused it, and then spitefully disowns her from the household, having given her bedroom to Mick, and even apologises to Mick for Lol's behaviour. However, in This Is England '88, Chrissy is shown in a much more positive light, behaving much more lovingly and respectful towards Lol and weeping when she believes her eldest daughter to have committed suicide. This could probably be because she realised Mick had raped one of Lol's friends and thus had not changed as he had claimed. In This Is England '90, she finally admits to Kelly that she took Mick's side against Lol because she was both in love with him and frightened of him, and labels herself as a stupid fool. Story Before 1986 Chrissy met and married Mick, and had two daughters with him. But the relationship was a very rocky one, since Mick was a heartless, violent and sexually abusive man, inflicting both physical and mental abuse on Chrissy and Lol (Kelly was likely only a baby at the time). Despite this, Chrissy continued to love and cherish Mick, even though her feelings were likely not returned, and missed him greatly when he abandoned the household. It is known that at one point after 1983, Chrissy became acquainted with Shaun's mother, Cynthia, wearing a gold blouse to her fortieth birthday. 1986 When Lol's boyfriend Woody proposes to her, Chrissy promises to attend the wedding, but on the day of the wedding, Mick unexpectedly turns up again, claiming that he has changed for the better. Overwhelmed by Mick's return, Chrissy deliberately misses Lol's wedding in order to spend time with Mick, and disconnects her telephone so that Lol won't be able to bother her. Along the way, Chrissy and Mick find Shaun on the ground, bleeding after a fight with Flip, and take him to the hospital, where coincidentally, Lol and the others are following Meggy's heart attack. As Chrissy goes to check on Shaun, Harvey accidentally knocks her down with a wheelchair and she is seen by Kelly, who gets furious at her for missing the wedding and refusing to explain why she wasn't there. Lol eventually confronts her, telling her that the wedding didn't go as planned, but Chrissy urges Lol to move in with Woody, telling her that there are "things she wants to do" with Lol's bedroom (in other words, give it to Mick). Chrissy is next seen having sex with Mick and looking visibly satisfied, though Mick acts somewhat indifferent towards her. When Lol eventually does return home, having been dissatisfied with Woody's poor choice of residence, she sees Mick and confronts her mother about her stupidity. In the ensuing argument, Lol accuses Mick of his past actions, but Chrissy passionately comes to her husband's defence, ordering Lol to shut up, calling her a poison, revealing that she missed her wedding on purpose, and ultimately telling her outright to "fuck off out of my house". Horrified at her mother's betrayal, Lol leaves, and Chrissy apologises to Mick for Lol's behaviour. However, one morning, after Mick raped Lol's friend Trev the previous night, Chrissy approaches Mick, but he behaves completely dismissively and disrespectfully towards her, and it is only when he tells her to "fuck off" that she slowly begins to question her decision to choose Mick over Lol. She is last seen in the final scenes, weeping for Mick's murder, apparently at Combo's hands. 1988 Two years later, Chrissy's relationship with Lol is seen to have healed greatly. She plays an active role in looking after Lol's illegitimate daughter with Milky, Lisa, and openly expresses concern over Lol's health. Milky himself notes that Chrissy has changed. She is seen later on watching the gang sing karaoke, and later Shaun's performance in his play. After Lol overdoses on paracetamol in a suicide attempt, Chrissy and Kelly rush her to the hospital. While she is being stomach pumped, Chrissy is seen crying, worried for her daughter's health. Lol survives, however, and when Woody initially believes that Lol has died, she tells him that she is alive, smoking a cigarette downstairs. In the final scene, she is shown eating with Kelly, Trev and Milky. 1990 Chrissy is in a relationship with another woman, Nikki, and continues to get on well with her family and friends. However, her relationship with Kelly is strained when Lol and Woody reveal that Lol was the one who killed Mick and Kelly refuses to believe the horrible truth about her father. Kelly outright asks Chrissy that if Mick was truly as evil and manipulative as Lol and Woody say, why she would allow Mick back into their house and then take his side over Lol's (and even call Lol "poison"). Chrissy breaks down and admits that she was fooled by his acting, and to a certain degree, frightened of him. However, by winter time, she is shown with Nikki at Lol's (this time successful) wedding. Kelly has returned in time for the after party, and the pair embrace tearfully but happily. The final scenes show Chrissy slow dancing with Nikki. She is happy and in love. Category:Characters Category:Parents